Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor
A minor is an optional component of a student’s degree that will be reflected on the student’s transcript. Minors are an excellent way for students to customize their learning experience and craft a degree program that is uniquely theirs. Students can even earn multiple minors to supplement a bachelor's degree. For example, students pursuing a degree in interpersonal communication might find that a minor in sociology is an excellent pairing, while a student pursuing a degree in public administration might add a minor in sustainability issues to help create a cleaner, greener future. And in some cases, employers offer bonuses or higher salaries to employees who have a foreign language minor.
Simone de Beauvoir famously stated, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) is an interdisciplinary minor that explores the ways in which gender and sexuality shape every aspect of our lives. Audre Lorde reminds us that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” WGSS provides students with the tools to examine how social expectations about women, men, and people with non-binary gender identity—which intersect with issues of race, class, sexuality, nationality, religion, and disability—influence our legal, medical, educational, and political systems.
This minor is open to all majors, but expertise in WGSS is particularly relevant for students majoring in English, Family Life Education, Geography, History, Humanities, Mass Communication, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
For more information, please contact Dr. Erik Huneke, Director of the WGSS minor, at ehuneke@uco.edu.
Curriculum
The WGSS minor is particularly relevant to majors in the social sciences, criminal justice, business, marketing, and communications programs. Some of the specific majors that this program complements are:
- Marketing
- Business Law
- Public Administration
- Nursing
- Sociology
- Criminal Justice
The Center
The Center serves as a site of information, research, grant funding, and advocacy for issues regarding women, gender, and sexuality. The Center also acts as a resource for the BGLTQ+ community, a crucial community meeting place, and an educational resource.